Cole, William Thomas (1876-1951)

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1928

Early years

William was born in 1876 at Reddall Hill, nr Dudley, Staffordshire, to parents William and Ann. William, senior, was a gas fitter.

William was taken to Sunday School and Church in infancy. He became a Church member at the age of thirteen. His gift for preaching was discerned in his early teens when he was placed ‘On Note’ by the Blackheath circuit. When aged twenty, William was employed as a hired local preacher at Fir Vale, a newly established cause in the Stanley Street circuit, Sheffield. He entered Hartley College in 1897.

Ministry

William served as Orphanage Secretary in the Hull District and Sunday School District in the Sheffield District.

William’s obituary records that he was ever a student, his desire to know and preach the truth in Christ urged him to be seeking for the best and most effective way of winning others to the Saviour. He had a radiant and confident faith in Christ manifest in his life and in his preaching. To preach Christ as God’s saving Word to needy souls, in such a manner that they saw their need, was his joy. In all the circuits where he laboured he left the inspiration and influence of a life fully consecrated to the task of preaching and of work lovingly done.

In 1944, William was compelled to superannuate, and continued to reside at Lincoln. In 1950 he moved to live at Bowdon Vale, nr Altrincham.

Family

William married Eva Moor (b abt1879) in the summer of 1904 at Grassington, Yorkshire. Census returns and birth records identify six children.

  • Rosetta (1906-1991) – married William Needham in 1930
  • Louisa (1906-1999) – married Frederick J Horne in 1930
  • Theodora (1908-1979) – married Cyril Edenbrow in 1939
  • William Bayne (1911-1974) – a schoolmaster (1951)
  • Thomas Francis (1917-2001) – an assistant estate manager (1951)
  • Cuthbert (1919-2000)

William died on 17 August 1951 at the General Hospital, Altrincham, Cheshire.

Circuits

  • Hartley
  • 1900 Grassington
  • 1904 Nantwich & Burland
  • 1907 Patrington
  • 1913 Scarborough II
  • 1916 Bolsover
  • 1923 Sheffield VII
  • 1928 Clay Cross
  • 1933 Retford Carolgate
  • 1936 Lincoln Portland Place
  • 1939 Lincoln Trinity
  • 1944 Lincoln Trinity (S)

References

Primitive Methodist Magazine 1928/375

Methodist Minutes 1952/120

W Leary, Directory of Primitive Methodist Ministers and their Circuits, 1990

Census Returns and Births, Marriages & Deaths Registers

Downloads

Transcription of obituary published in the Minutes of Conference.

Comments about this page

  • This was my Grandfather, I was told that he was born on the day of Custers last stand (The battle of Little Big Horn.) This fact fascinated me as a young child brought up in an era where tales of the Wild West were common on TV and the cinema. His youngest son (my Dad, Cuthbert) was also a Methodist Minister. I have my Grandfathers diaries covering from some years prior to 1900 and throughout the 20th Century up to and including the 1940’s.
    Should a family member in the future wish to contact me regarding these diaries or want to get in touch please pass on my details.

    By David Cole (02/04/2019)

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